Gryffindor Courage
by Gryffindor's Lioness
Summary: Harry claimed that he would have told Hermione how much he cared for her, had she not been dating Ron. But when they break up, will he follow through? How will Hermione take the news?
1. She wakes!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, or anything else you recognize. I own only the plot. I am not getting rich off this, so please don't sue me. I give J. K. Rowling all rights to use my work (I live in hope).  
  
"Hermione? Hermione, you have to wake up! Class is going to start soon! Come on now, get up!"  
Harry Potter knew he was doing the right thing by waking Hermione for class, but he hated doing it anyway. She looked like such an angel while she slept, to him at least. He sighed as he began to shake her again. How could he wake her when she looked so sweet whilst she slept? Not worrying about her classes or about Ron and him made her seem all the more beautiful to him. Harry loved when she fell asleep in the Common Room at night, because it meant he got to touch her and wake her up. Not that he ever got to take advantage of her, as he would never do that! They were best friends, and nothing more.  
However, Harry didn't want to be just friends any longer. He wanted the bookworm know-it-all Hermione Granger as his girlfriend. It had taken him months to admit it to himself, but he finally did. He had a crush on his best friend. To be exact, his best girl friend. There wasn't much he could do about this however, because Hermione was dating Ron Weasley, their other best friend.  
Harry never was mad at Ron for dating Hermione; he just wished Ron had told him, instead of letting him find out from Ginny, Ron's sister. It had been their biggest row ever, when Harry confronted Hermione and Ron about their relationship. It had been particularly hard for Harry, as he had just admitted to himself his changing feelings for Hermione.  
"Ugh.... Five more minutes, mom. Just five minutes," Hermione moaned as she woke up.  
"'Mione, I'd love to let you sleep, but class starts in ten minutes, and I doubt Professor McGonagall will be pleased if we're late." Harry paused before adding, "and, if you call me 'mom' one more time, I will be forced to charm a bucket of ice-cold water to pour on your head every time you lay down."  
At these words, Hermione jumped up and ran to the girls' dormitories.  
  
'I knew that would wake her up,' Harry thought smugly to himself. Five seconds later, Hermione came running down the stairs, robe flying around her.  
"Harry, let's go! We're going to be late! Oh, and I promised I'd meet Ron for breakfast. He's going to kill me for making him get up early, and not showing up."  
Harry sighed as he followed Hermione out of the Portrait Hole. He would have been happy to follow her anywhere she wanted, but adding that part about Ron had made his whole day start off bad. Harry had tried dropping hints that he thought they should break up, but the two of them never seemed to listen, or care. It wasn't that he thought they were a bad couple, not at all! He just thought they made better friends, and that they had far too many rows for any healthy relationship.  
By this time, they had reached the classroom. They skidded inside and made it to their seats precisely before class was scheduled to begin. Professor McGonagall entered seconds later, with her customary stern, tight- lipped look.  
"Good morning, class. Today we will be learning about transforming raccoons into goblets. Please get out your wands," Professor McGonagall said, as way of greeting.  
The rest of the class hour rolled by fairly smoothly, unless you counted Harry accidentally missing his raccoon and making his quill do a dance while he stared at Hermione.  
Harry spent the rest of the day in a blur, thinking only of Hermione, and what he would be doing if she weren't dating his best friend. He was mentally exhausted by the end of the day, having gone through Potions and Care of Magical Creatures, which both included trying not to punch Malfoy's lights out when he made fun of Hermione.  
He dropped into bed, and woke the next morning, having no recollection of being woken the night before when Ron had stormed into the room. 


	2. Hermione Cries

Disclaimer: If I was J. K. Rowling, don't you think I would be charging you to read my stories? But I'm not, am I? Which means.... I am only an aspiring writer bored silly with my homework, so I'm spending my time writing a fan fiction about Harry and Hermione, instead of going outside like the other sane people.  
  
I would really appreciate it if someone (or ones) would please review. I'm only 14, and this is my first fanfic, so any and all supportive criticism or suggestions would be appreciated greatly. Thanks a ton!  
Gryffindor's Lioness  
  
Harry woke the next morning very late. He groaned as he looked at the time, realizing he would have to rush to get to breakfast. However, even with the pressing matters of eating, it was still incredibly hard to summon the energy to get up and get dressed. When he finally managed to pull his robe on, he woke completely and sprinted to the Great Hall.  
Looking around, Harry realized something was missing. Where was Ron, stuffing his face? Where was Hermione, rolling her eyes at Ron when he chewed with his mouth open? There was nothing in the world that could make Ron late for breakfast, even Hermione. Knowing this information, and recalling that Ron wasn't in the boy's dormitories that morning either, Harry concluded that Ron must have gotten up early and left to go someplace.  
Ron getting up early was probably one of the scariest thoughts Harry had recently, except the ones about the crazy guy trying to kill him (A/N ok, who DIDN'T think Voldemort was crazy? You knew it was true!). Abandoning his breakfast, Harry went in search of Ron and Hermione, expecting to find them together somewhere, locked at the lips, which would only tear his heart to pieces even more.  
It was a wonder, really, that Harry's heart even continued beating with all the torment he went through about Hermione.  
Harry had looked in the halls on the 1st and 2nd story, and the mess hall again, before thinking of going back to the dormitories to search there again. As he walked past the library, he felt it would be helpful to look in there, to see if Hermione had done the impossible: gotten Ron to study for a test.  
He was just about to give up and go back to the search when a noise stopped him. Was that sobbing? He looked around. No one else seemed to have heard it, but no one else was listening. He followed his ears to the source of the sound, with quite a few dead ends and wrong turns.  
What he saw next almost broke his heart. Hermione sat, in the farthest corner of the library, crying her eyes out. Surprisingly, there weren't any books in front of her, or any reason, that Harry could see, for her to be bawling.  
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Harry asked. 'Smart, Potter, ask her if she's all right when its clear as day she's not. Real smooth.' The voice in his head reminded him of Malfoy, mocking and cold, although he had to admit it was right. He did sound stupid, even to himself. (A/N Harry is not going crazy, he is just thinking to himself, don't you ever do that?)  
"Harry? Harry, is that you?" Hermione's eyes were almost swollen shut, because of her tears.  
"Here, let me fix that for you, lo- err... Hermione." Harry fumbled. He could NOT have almost called Hermione "love" especially now, when she was so innocent, and sweet. With her hair all ruffled, she looked even more beautiful to him. Harry shook his head, clearing the thoughts of how beautiful she looked from it. However, that didn't work well, as she was sitting in front of him, looking more amazing than ever. Harry reached his hand out to her eyes, and, with a few whispered words, the swelling in her eyes went down, even though his wand was still in his pocket.  
  
"Thanks Harry," said Hermione, not realizing he had done magic without his wand, in the state she was in. "And I'm fine, I swear."  
"Hermione, even I know that something's wrong, will you please tell me? You know you can trust me with anything," Harry pleaded. He hated seeing Hermione cry, especially when he couldn't help her.  
"Ron and I – had a fight. We broke up." At this, Hermione started sobbing. Harry almost left to go punch Ron right then, and would have, if Hermione hadn't been crying on his shirt.  
Harry didn't know what to think. On one hand, he was happy – overjoyed, more – that Ron and Hermione broke up, because that meant that she was free again, and he could tell her how he felt. On the other hand, Ron made Hermione cry, and he hated Ron for that. Obviously, if she was crying like this, she still had feelings for him.  
Upon realizing that Hermione must still like Ron, Harry's heart weighted down again. 'No,' he thought, 'I'll wait for her. I'll wait forever if I have to, but I will wait for her.'  
"It's – not – even – like – I still – even – like him! This – is just – so – hard!" Hermione muttered between sobs.  
Harry actually thought he felt his feet lift off the ground. Hermione didn't like Ron anymore! That meant that she was truly free, and he could tell her!  
"Shhhh... Hermione, don't cry. Whatever Ron did, I will beat him up for this. No one should make you cry." Harry promised to her, while she soaked his shirt.  
"No, Harry. Really, I'm fine, I just never had to deal with breaking up with someone before." Hermione said, sniffling.  
Harry sat there for a while, just content to hold Hermione in his arms and soothe her.  
  
Ok, that's the end of the second chapter! I'm sorry these are so short, but they never seem long until you have to write it yourself! As I said before, this is my first fan fiction, so I'm sorry if its horrible, or if I take a really long time to update. I'm balancing friends, family, soccer, track, school, babysitting, and homework, while I try to do this. Please try to send me a review though. I've never gotten one, and it would make me feel really special. I'm going on a field trip to Washington, D.C. on May15, and I won't get back until May 19, so it may be a while before I get to update. As always, thanks for reading!  
  
Gryffindor's Lioness 


	3. Ron Uses his Brain

Disclaimer: see the first two chapters. I don't own Harry Potter or any of its components.

I would like to thank my two wonderful reviewers! I would name you here, but I can't remember your names, and I am too lazy to go look for them. If I am terribly offending you by not naming you, please tell me and I will name you in the next chapter, though I may do that anyway. Thanks!

Gryffindor's Lioness

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Harry and Hermione left the library quite a while later, after both of them had gotten over the breakup Hermione had with Ron.

"Do you know why Ron broke up with you?" Harry asked hesitantly, because he didn't want her to start crying again.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears, but she didn't allow them to fall, or for Harry to see.

"He-he has a crush on someone else. I am almost positive its Lavender, and I think that they are already going out, he was just going to wait to break up me."

"That little rat! I can't believe you would do that to you! That's it. I'm never going to speak to him again. I'm going to punch his brains out and then I am never going to look at his ugly face ever again!" Harry screamed, outraged that someone would do that to his precious Hermione.

"Harry! Please, Harry, don't! Really, I'm fine. We would have broken up anyway. Besides," she continued a bit more calmly and quieter, "I've already shown him what I think of what he did to me. Lets just say that his nose has been replaced by something… less pleasant."

Harry winced, knowing very well Hermione was capable of inflicting pain, even without touching her wand, as she had done something to Malfoy before. Suddenly mad, he thought to himself, 'it's not like he doesn't deserve it. If anyone does, he does. NO ONE should make Hermione. I'm going to have a little "talk" with him later, to let him know exactly what I think of him.' Smiling to himself, he continued to escort Hermione to the Common Room.

When they got to the Common Room, Hermione politely excused herself to the Girls' Dormitories. Just after Harry had cleared his head from watching her ascent up the stairs, who should walk in but his best ex-friend, Ronald Weasley.

"Hey, mate, what's new? I haven't seen you in a while." He obviously didn't know that Harry knew he had broken up with Hermione.

Harry strode towards him, eyes blazing with hatred.

"Harry, mate, are you okay? You've got the scariest look on your face. Its almost as if you were… mad at me." Ron must have realized why Harry was so mad, but he didn't get a chance to explain it to him, as Harry had just punched him in the face.

"HOW COULD YOU?! HOW COULD YOU BREAK UP WITH HERMIONE? SHE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE HURT LIKE THAT! YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!" breathing hard, Harry took another breath, prepared to rant at Ron some more.

"Mate, stop! Okay? I had to break up with her. I-I have a crush on someone else." Ron whispered the last part, almost afraid to tell Harry.

"WELL, THAT'S NO SURPRISE! EVEN HERMIONE KNOWS! AND NOW I FIND OUT YOU WERE GOING BEHIND HER BACK? THAT'S LOW, RON. EVEN FOR YOU." At every word, Ron winced.

"Harry, you really are being strange," Ron said, giving Harry an odd look. "If it was anyone else, you'd be on my side, telling me how I was right to dump her. It-it's almost as if you have a crush on her."

Harry was quiet for a moment; afraid his voice would give him away. He then said (very quietly), "I think of her as a sister, nothing more. She's just like a sister to me. That's all we will ever be."

After he said this, Ron smiled. It wasn't a shy smile, or a fake smile. It was a full out grin from ear to ear.

"Its true, then, what they say. The Famous Harry Potter really has been stricken by love. And to his very own best friend, too. Oh, wait till I tell Ginny. She has a bet going on how long it will be before you two hook up." Harry stared at him in shock. Obviously, his brain wasn't functioning right. He could NOT have just heard that Ron knew he had a crush on his ex-girlfriend, and that Ginny had a bet on them getting together.

"Ho-how do you know? Am-am I re-really that obvious?" Harry stuttered. What if she knew, and was laughing at him this whole time?  
            "Oh, don't worry, mate. You haven't been obvious, and I doubt Hermione knows. I didn't know, and wouldn't have, except for right now. I sort of added up all the things you do for Hermione that could be considered something a boyfriend would do for a girlfriend. So," he said, rubbing his hands together, "when ARE you going to ask her out?"

Harry just stared at him, not knowing what to say.

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Please, please review! I know everyone says it, but it makes me feel good and it gives me ideas! I promise to try and make my chapters longer and update quicker, if you promise to review.

Promise?

Thanks!

Gryffindor's Lioness


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